JulianRota
5d ago
I've been reading, and am most of the way through Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island: The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation. It's decent I guess. I'd say it's kind of two types of book combined into one.
One type, and the type IMO it actually works at, is as a series of short stories about the air battles between the "Cactus Air Force" on Guadalcanal in WWII and the Imperial Japanese forces. This is in the early days of the war, when American forces were mostly few in number, poorly trained, poorly equipped, and going up against the the cream of the crop of experienced Japanese veterans. The forces end up fairly evenly matched overall, and the stories are exciting. The Americans sometimes take a beating and sometimes dish one out, depending on the details of how well equipped they are at the moment, what tactics the Japanese use that particular time, the weather, etc.
The other type is as a coherent overall story with characters that you care about and who have a narrative. I think it fails at that. There's just too many people, coming and going at random times. There's brief individual stories about some of them, but I don't feel like I remember any of them in particular, or understand them or really care about them in particular. Major issues get brought up as a huge problem, then just forgotten about.
Of course, I still respect their sacrifices and all that. I just don't think it works narratively. It does make me understand a bit more why so many more compelling but fictional war movies keep the focus excessively tightly on a small group that suffers relatively few casualties during the story, even if that isn't really that realistic.
JulianRota
6d ago
What do people think about replacing batteries on modern smartphones?
My current phone is a 2-year old Pixel 8, and the battery is starting to get noticeably worse. Nothing too dire yet, but it is starting to seem beneficial to do some extra charging during the day in addition to leaving it on a charger all night. In the past, every time a phone of mine has started to see serious battery degradation, I've gotten a whole new phone, because at least one of the following was also the case:
- Various minor physical damage had accumulated - screen cracks, scratches and scuffs on the edge or back, etc
- It had become generally slow and flaky
- I was actually excited about the new features and capabilities of the newer models
- Total physical destruction or loss
Now, for the first time, none of those are the case. This phone is still in perfect physical condition, runs great, and there's nothing I find interesting about the newer models. It feels like a bit much to get a whole new one just because of the battery thing, so I'm wondering if it might make sense to replace just the battery.
On the other hand, I looked up the instructions for how to do it. Yikes. Apparently I would need like a dozen pricey specialized tools to do it myself and the whole process sounds really sketchy, like there's a dozen ways to accidentally break something if I do anything a little bit wrong. So maybe I take it to a shop to do it. I guess that might be a good option, but it's hard to see online how much that would cost or get a feel for how reliable such services are.
So I guess, has anyone else done it themselves or had a shop do it? I don't think it matters much exactly what brand or model phone, it seems like they all have similar construction and disassembly techniques and risks. Were you happy with the result? Was it worth the cost versus getting a whole new device?
I have at least some elements of this. Though mostly not quite as bad as some of the other posters in this thread. I think some of mine is probably a little ridiculous and excessive, and some is quite justified.
I never had much appetite for participating in traditional social media. The kind like Facebook and Instagram where you're expected to have an account under your real name and accumulate as "friends" everyone you've ever known, or even met for a few minutes one time. I just can't think of anything I really want to post or show to such a huge variety of people. I've pretty much abandoned the original accounts I had on these and never even check them at all. All of the bad behavior and dark patterns of big tech don't particularly help and provide additional justification, but I think that feeling is the actual core reason for me. So I do the majority of my online social interaction in relatively small group chats of people I know well. I think this is probably healthier overall anyways.
I do feel an urge to conceal things I look at at work, where we're all in a big open office with everyone's screen visible. I think I've managed to keep it mostly under control. I tell myself that nobody's going to pay attention to a big wall of text, so it doesn't matter what it says. I try to avoid having any pictures or video displayed too long and often switch out of "personal" browsers when someone comes by my desk.
Strangely, I actually feel the complete opposite sometimes. I actually love performing on stage in front of big audiences. Always have, never needed to do any particular trick or technique for it. Maybe it's because I'm consciously putting on an act, or that there's so many people that none of them really "count" as people. I'm not quite sure.
I think I like showing only certain parts of myself to most people and social groups. I think I've always had a bit of a split personality. I have a need for a certain amount of spice in my life, and probably some of the things I've done or enjoy would really shock and put off some of the tamer groups I'm around, like most work people, tech-related groups, probably most rationalist-sphere groups. So I mostly hide that part of myself in those places. I also enjoy nerding out on things, understanding things in way too much detail, writing excessively in-depth effortposts here sometimes. I know some of the more out-there people I'm friends with don't care to hear that sort of thing, so I hide that part of myself around them. Is this excessive hiding, or just reading the room and fitting in to social groups? I'm not entirely sure. I feel mostly pretty satisfied with my friendships, even though I don't think any one person really gets all of me.
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